Wannabe Wino

You may be wondering, what exactly is The Great Whatsit? And where does it come from? How did I get it? Well I'll answer all that for you! The Great Whatsit is a Domain547 selection and this year it is a 2005 Syrah from Santa Ynez Valley. Domaine547 intends to have a Great Whatsit bottled every year, though there's no telling Whatsit will be from year to year! I purchased this wine from Domaine547 for $20, it clocks in at 14.9% alcohol by volume, and comes under a screw cap closure.


On the nose I found plums, cinnamon, baking spice, cobbler, pie, blackberries, licorice, espresso. It smelled like my kitchen when I've been baking, a veritable buffet of my favorite fruity cinnamony desserts all wrapped up into the nose of a wine! In the mouth I got flavors of black cherry, plums, bitter coffee, blackberry, and spice.

Overall, the wine had some tannins to spare, so let it air a bit or save it for a year. This is a dark wine, big and fruity, with a nice finish. Quite yummy! I think it might be up to $25 as I got it at an introductory price, but as with many of the wines Jill has recommended for me, this is great at the price point!

First off, holy high alcohol batman. I chose the 2006 Mauritson Rockpile Madrone Spring Vineyard Syrah for our wine the other night. It clocked in at 15.9% alcohol by volume!!!! That alone made it a one glass kind of wine. Now, as you know, I'm not one of those "high alcohol wines are all evil and unbalanced" type of people. However, I do like to have a glass of wine with dinner and one after. When the alcohol content is THAT high, I just can't. The wine cost us $38 minus a 20% discount in a club shipment and had a real cork closure.


In the glass, the wine showed as a deep dark purple, almost inky color. On the nose I found aromas of cinnamon, red hots, vanilla, pie, plum, black cherry, baking spice, espresso, and violets. The wine had an incredibly complex and intriguing nose and I didn't get any of the heat I expected from the alcohol level. In the mouth, the flavors came through as plum, black cherries, pepper, licorice, and a little leather.

Overall, in the mouth, the wine seemed a bit hot. It also had some tannins to spare, so perhaps with a bit of age this one would settle down. I really loved the nose, and thought the mouth had potential, maybe some decanting to let the heat integrate a little better.

I picked the 2003 Jeriko Syrah as the wine for the evening. With cooler weather rolling, I am in the mood for the big red wines that I have ignored for going on 4-5 months now as I live in the hot humid swamp that is the greater DC area. I'm also getting excited to make casseroles and soups again, heavier fare to pair with my heavy reds. I purchased the Jeriko from WineQ for $25.99 (free shipping!), it clocked in at 14.3% alcohol by volume, and had a real cork closure.


On the nose I found aromas of boysenberries, chocolate plums (and yes, I mean that as one entry), blackberries, spice, leather, earth, vanilla, black cherry, and charred meat (As I write some of these descriptors, I realize that some of them might turn people off rom the wine. However, I swear to you that charred meat or grilled meat, or meat in general as an aroma in a Syrah is not uncommon or unwelcome!). The nose showed as quite fruity and perfumed.

In the mouth I got flavors of espresso, black cherry, blackberries, raisins, licorice, raspberries, and plums. The flavors were very fruity. I found the finish to be fairly tannic, so I would say this one has quite a few years left in it to develop. Overall, I loved this bottle of wine. It had so many complex flavors and just got better over the course of the evening. I can easily recommend this bottle!

When Bob saw we were drinking wine from Twisted Oak, he had to jump into the picture! We drank the 2004 Twisted Oak Calaveras County Syrah on it's own the other night, but I'd certainly suggest pairing it with some nice bratwurst or bbq ribs! It clocked in at 14.2% alcohol by volume, had a real cork closure, and cost me $24 in a club shipment.

On the nose I found lots of berries! Blackberries, spice, vanilla, cream, plums, and other dark fruits dominated the nose. I could smell my glass before I even raised it to my nose, very aromatic. In the mouth I got flavors of blackberries, raspberries, spice, vanilla, and undertones of other red fruits. The fruit showed quite tart and fresh, I found it very tart for a red wine.


Overall, the wine is nice and smooth at this point and is drinking very well. I'm sure you could keep it around for a bit longer, but if you plan to have any end of the season bbqs, I'm sure your guests would love for you to open up any you have hanging around!

I have to admit, Wine Blogging Wednesday almost slipped my mind this month. With the holiday weekend here in the US and being on vacation last week for it, my thoughts were elsewhere. As we were driving home from work last night I was talking about how I needed to drink a sample wine I had received a few weeks ago and I was making plans for that when it suddenly occurred to me that WBW was here!

This month, our hosts of the nearly 4 year old (wow, congrats Lenn on starting such a wine blog phenomenon) WBW are Erin and Michelle of Grape Juice. They have picked a very different theme, which has pretty much given us free reign on what to drink, so long as it relates to the letter "S." The theme is "Brought to you by the letter "S."" That sorta makes me want to start singing "C is for cookie and that's good enough for me!"

For this one again, yay!, I was able to dive back into my own wine collection (phew, helps with the wine budget) to get a wine that was easily suitable for this theme.

I chose the 2005 Sonoma County Sky Saddle Syrah. Is that enough esses for you? :) I purchased this wine from WineQ for $25.99 (free shipping cause I spent more than $35), it had a real cork closure, and clocked in at 15.2% alcohol by volume. Sky Saddle is a completely organic and/or biodynamic winery and also uses oak barrels from a sustainable forest. I've had their Zinfandel before and had nothing but raves for it, so I was very excited to try more of what they had to offer.

My first note on this wine is that it needs to be decanted. On first pour/taste, the wine was tight and it definitely needed some time to aerate. Now, an hour or so later, the wine had opened beautifully.

The nose showed berries, plums, spice, red fruit, earth, oak, cream, violets, and white pepper. It was quite a nose once it was allowed to open up. Full of aroma and layer after layer of different scents. I'm sure if I kept sniffing it I would have gotten more, but as usual when I have my nose buried in a glass, Matt was almost through his 2nd glass and I haven't even tasted mine yet.

In the mouth I found tart red raspberries, zingy blackberries, plums, other red fruits, earth, vanilla, berries and cream, pepper. The wine was still a bit tight and tannic. This one could definitely hang out for several more years in my cellar, or else, decant for at least 2 hours before you serve it.

Overall, another great offering from Sky Saddle. I look forward to trying the Cabernet Sauvignon I have hanging around!

Many thanks to Michelle and Erin for the theme and for hosting this month!

The wine was a 2006 Quivira "Hommage A Ampuis" Syrah. The wine hails from the Dry Creek Valley (please go see Dr. Deb's excellent rant on the value of multiple varietals from the DCV), clocked in at 14.4% alcohol by volume, and cost me $36 minus a club discount in my club shipment. The notable part about the winemaking technique of this bottle is that the Syrah juice was fermented on Viognier skins (this also makes me wonder if Quivira has a Viognier they've been holding out on!).

And the oddest part was the it smelled like Viognier. If I were doing a blind tasting and hasn't yet actually tasted this wine, I would have said "Viognier!" and been very confident in that proclamation (except for maybe the slightest hint of dark berries, that would have thrown me for a minutes, but I still would have said "Viognier"). The nose was floral, with pears, violets, honeysuckle, and just a suggestion of dark berries. My notes helpfully say "How very odd."

The color of the wine was dark purple, like any other Syrah. So I was expecting it to be big and chewy like a Syrah despite its time spent playing with Viognier skins. Instead, this was a much lighter and delicate red wine on the front of the palate. It showed blackberries, blueberries, spice, cinnamon, and black cherry.

My first glass was tannic on the back of the palate. The wine needed air or time or both to loosen up. I have a second bottle of this in the basement and I will hold it for another year or so to see if the time in the bottle will help the wine integrate a bit more. This is the first Syrah I've had that involves Viognier, though I've seen/read about some that contain upwards of 5% Viognier juice. I think I'd like to get my hands on one of those and see how it compares to this one that simply fermented on the Viognier skins.

I previously wrote about our trip to Breggo on our last Sonoma visit. We really liked the wines they had to offer and have actually stashed away one of their more pricey Pinots for another day. We also brought home some Rose which I loved at the winery and will be featured in an upcoming project I'm working on...more on that later!

So the wine for the evening was the 2007 Breggo Rose of Syrah. It cost us $20 at the winery, had a real cork closure (with a nifty ram on it), and clocked in at 13.7% alcohol by volume. I think I managed to capture the absolutely nifty melted watermelon jolly rancher color of the wine in this picture (though you can tell me if I'm deluding myself, I know my pictures suck, many folks have pointed that out to me....).

On the nose I found strawberry, lime, some orange type citrus, though I don't think I would call it orange, flowers, and white pepper. The nose on this Rose was very aromatic. I again noted the beautiful color in my notes (must have REALLY thought this was pretty!). In the mouth I found tart wild strawberries. I'm not sure these grow elsewhere, but in New England you could find tiny little patches of wild growing strawberries and raspberries in peoples' yards, and the strawberries were always very tiny compared to what you buy in the store, but they were bright red and tart and delicious. I also got oranges (actual oranges this time), watermelon, and cherries.

Overall, the wine was tart, dry, and very refreshing. It will certainly pair well with the dog days of summer which are right around the corner for us! I served this with cedar planked grilled salmon and fresh corn on the cob. It was a great match with the salmon! I would also recommend it with a spicy bbq though, as the cool, crisp flavors would be very refreshing (not to turn my back on Zinfandel with bbq, because I love me some Zinfandel with my bbq, but as a nice alternative when you aren't feeling the heavy red in the 95 degree weather plus 100% humidity....).

This wine was one of the darkest, if not THE darkest, Syrah I have ever seen. In fact, I think it's intense purple color can only be compared to the teeth staining ability of a a typical Petite Sirah....it was that dark and my tongue and teeth were that blue after drinking my 2 glasses.

The wine was a 2004 Teldeschi Syrah that we picked up at the winery on our recent Sonoma trip. I am still slugging through the posts regarding our various vineyard visits, I certainly have more than a few left to put up for you. The Syrah cost us $32, had a real cork closure, and the bottle got pitched before I could record the alcohol content.

On the nose I found cherry, minty herbs, dark fruit, smoky meat, and purple fruit. This was a great Syrah nose, and by the time I finished sniffing it, Matt was looking at me wanting to pour me a 2nd glass. In the mouth I got dark fruit, blackberries, leather, herbs, and earth.

The wine had big chewy tannins and I fully believe this is capable of staying in the cellar for years to come. The backbone was there for the wine to keep developing and getting better over time. We took the remainder of this bottle outside to hang out with our neighbors, and the neighbor a few doors down also loved this wine...and he's a harsh critic, preferring big, dark, intense reds. So I guess this was perfect for him!

The bottle for the night was the 2006 Hocus Pocus Syrah. I picked this bottle up from Domaine547 for $17.99. I know it had a real cork closure, and I didn't write down the alcohol content, but I believe it was somewhere in the low-14% range. The wine hails from the Central Coast of California.

On the nose I found cobbler, both blueberry and blackberry,
with cedar spice (and by that I do mean spiced Cedar wood, neither one nor the other), vanilla and pepper. In the mouth there were dark berries, especially blackberries, and it was a woody wine, in the sense of a dark forest. The wine was dark, silky, and well balanced.

I thought this wine was an excellent value for the price tag, and I loved the cobbler on the nose!

The wine of the evening was a 2005 Michel Schlumberger Syrah from Dry Creek Valley. It had a real cork closure, clocked in at 14.9% alcohol by volume, and cost us $25 in a club shipment. It doesn't appear to be available on their website yet, so I have no idea what it would cost on its own.

On the nose I found berries, cherries, jam, vanilla, spices, earth, and pepper!! The nose was very very fruity. In the mouth, the flavors were of berries, cherries, black currants, and pepper. The wine was smooth and incredibly fruity, much more so than I expect from a Syrah.

Overall, the wine was slightly tannic on the back of the palate when we first started drinking but by the second glass, that was gone. The flavors really came out in the second glass, and the wine seems smooth and ready to drink. I wouldn't hang onto this one much longer if you have it in stock.

When Matt and I went to Sonoma, Farley was kind enough to come down from the mountain and meet us halfway between Sonoma and the Bay Area. She also brought us a few bottles of wine as a housewarming gift as we had just closed on our house. We finally found a night we though would be great to drink the half bottle of Clos LaChance 2003 Central Coast Syrah. We were just looking for a glass of wine each last night and this fit the bill perfectly!

The bottle had a real cork closure and clocked in at 14.5% alcohol by volume. You'll have to go ask Farley where you can find this wine as there seems to be no info online about it!

On the nose I found roasted meat, blackberries, clove cigarettes, and smoke. The nose was very complex and Matt managed to drink most of his glass and was eying mine while I still had my nose in mine. Needless to say I thwarted his attempts for the greater good of the blog so I could give my impressions to you! ;)

In the mouth there was black cherry, blackberry, and cracked pepper. The wine was round and smooth on the palate but had a kick at the end. I really enjoyed this little bottle of wine and was glad to get the chance to try it, despite Matt's best efforts to snag my glass!

And a picture of what happens when you give your husband the camera and ask him to take a picture of the cake! In any case, my in-laws were here visiting this weekend and it was also my father-in-law's birthday. Mine happened on Wednesday while I was away on business, so we shared a cake for the two birthdays instead.

Of course, we shared a bottle of wine to mark the occasion, this time a bottle of 2005 De la Montanya Syrah. The wine came in our last club shipment, cost around $24, had a real cork closure, and was 14.4% alcohol by volume. It was served with grilled steaks, fresh corn, and green beans prepared by Matt and my mother-in-law.

The nose showed dark fruit, cedar, oak, leather, and black currants. In the mouth there were big gobs of dark fruit. Specifically I found black currants and blackberries. Overall the wine was a bit tannic and was a big wine. I think I would let this one sit around for a bit before drinking it, or at least decant it before serving.

Another year older, the jury is still out on the wiser bit.

Tonight we drank one of the bottles of wine that my mother in-law sent us. As I mentioned before, when she went to her high school reunion in CA she discovered that several of her classmates own vineyards and she decided to send me a bottle from each to try. The first one we have consumed is a 2003 Chatom Vineyards Esmeralda Syrah. From the website I can see that it runs $34, is 14.5% alcohol by volume and has a real cork closure. Chatom Vineyards is located in Calaveras County in Esmeralda Valley from which this wine takes its name. It also appears that this Syrah won a bronze medal in the 2006 San Fransisco Chronicle Wine Competition. I believe this is my first bottle of wine from Calaveras County, though it won't be my last as I've got a Twisted Oak Verdelho that just arrived from WineQ waiting for me!

Oh yes, the wine! Decant it. The alcohol on the nose took quite a while to blow off, over an hour in the glass I'd say. I served the wine with some freshly made tomato sauce, pasta and parmasean cheese. Aromas of cherries, spices, oak and dark chocolate could be found on the nose. The nose was complex, with the aromas showing better after sitting out and more layers appearing over the next hours. In the mouth, the flavors were cherries, raspberries and plums, with a lingering spicy note. The finish was long, lasting at least 10 seconds or so.

Overall the wine was a good match for the dinner, with the spicy notes complementing my sauce nicely. I liked the style of the wine, it was quite well balanced and I think I would serve it with roasted lamb or a nice bbq if I had another bottle.

As I've mentioned at least a few times now, Matt and I did some excellent wine tasting with Ken of Ala Wine and his wife while we were in the Sonoma area (which I probably should have been more clear about as I think many people, including Ken, thought we were actually in Sonoma, rather we were staying just outside of Healdsburg). While visiting the in-laws I received an email from Ken inquiring about our schedule and asking if we would like to do some tasting with him and his wife Cori (sorry if I didn't get the spelling on that right!). I quickly said we would be delighted and thus we headed to their home on Thursday. Sadly, I underestimated the traffic and we were a touch late, but we eventually made it! You can head on over to Ken's blog to read full details of all the wines we tasted, I'll just give you some brief tasting notes here.

But first, Ken and Cori are wonderful people and we had the best time with them (and their really active cat, seriously, I don't think I've ever seen a cat move that fast!). Their home is lovely and it was so incredibly kind of them to have us over. This was Matt's first experience in actually talking about wines and writing notes while he tasted, he usually leaves it up to me and will occassionally offer an opinion if I prod him enough, but he enjoyed it and is already talking about getting tasting sheets and hosting a tasting at our house. After we finished tasting Cori suggested we all go grab dinner and we went to a great Italian place where I just had to get fettucini alfredo as we had been talking about how a cream based sauce would be great with one of the wines we tasted and the craving stuck in my head. We got to taste some great wines and meet some interesting new people, all in all a fantastic evening in my book! Thanks again for having us!

Onto the notes:

First up, a 2005 Unionville Vineyards Chardonnay, from New Jersey. Now, I know you must be thinking, Huh? New Jersey? But actually this isn't the first wine I've had from New Jersey as I had a friend in law school in that area and she would frequently bring back wines from various vineyards. The Unionville Chardonnay could best be described as having a damp nose with a slight hint of oak and undertones of lemons. In the mouth there were lemons and pears. It had a short finish, but was smooth with a good mouthfeel. The wine was slightly tart and left a clean feeling in the mouth. We discussed having this wine with an herbed chicken or a pasta with cream sauce and decided it would be really food friendly. It doesn't appear on their website, but the last 2 vintages were $19.99 a bottle.

Second on the list was a 2004 Cliff Creek Syrah. The nose of this wine was full of dark fruits, specifically black cherries and blueberries with a touch of maple syrup, as odd as that sounds, but it worked and was a very pleasing nose. The wine clocks in at 14.6% alcohol by volume and I can see from their website runs for $35. In the mouth there were black cherries and the wine was fairly smooth but appeared to have tannins that would allow it to age, and hopefully bring out more of the flavors we found in the nose.

Next up was a 2002 Meola Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. On those nose of this one we found oak, black currants and peppers. In the mouth there was a distinct taste of dried fruits, mostly currants and raisins. We all liked this wine, but thought that it would be even better if we decanted, so Ken did so and we went back to it later. After an hour or so decanting, this wine was much better. It had opened up and the powerful impression of dried fruit was gone, as were the peppers, showing a sweet nose with strawberries and more strawberries in the mouth. I would venture to guess you should age this one and it will be an excellent wine in a few years. Looks like the winery is sold out, but it goes for $50 and has 14% alcohol by volume.

Fourth bottle of the evening found us drinking a 2004 EOS Reserve Petite Sirah from Paso Robles. I love Petite Sirah, so I may be biased, but this was my favorite wine of the evening. The wine does not appear on the website, but the 2003 vintage does, which was also a big award winner and goes for $25 a bottle. If that's the price of the 2004, I say run and get some. On the nose was an enticing aroma of raspberries, plums and pipe tobacco. In the mouth, gobs of raspberries, strawberry jam and a bit of blackberry, plus a note of the tobacco from the nose. The finish was long and very pleasant, overall this was just a lovely wine.

Finally we tried what would be my first ice wine and my first Fingerlakes wine, a 2005 Casa Larga Fiori Delle Stelle Vidal Ice Wine. It appears to cost $25/375 ml and was 11.5% alcohol by volume with 17% residual sugar. I can't find a website for the winery. On the nose there was peach, honey, apricots, with honey, mandarin oranges (yes, like the ones in the can), pear and green apple to be found in the mouth. The wine was tart, not cloying or palate coating at all. It was well balanced with excellent structure. It really was a dessert in and of itself. I may now be spoiled to all other dessert wines but ice wine.

With our bbq pulled pork, purple mashed potatoes and broccoli, I decided that a big Syrah would be an excellent match to the spicy bbq sauce. I usually prefer a Zinfandel with my bbq, but I don't have any left in my collection that I haven't reviewed yet so Syrah it was.

The bottle was a 2003 Alderbrook Syrah that came in a club shipment. Again, I have no idea how much it cost. It was 14.5% alcohol by volume and had a real cork closure. The bottle was really heavy and had the largest punt that I've ever seen.

On the nose I found blackberries, bramble fruit and a hint of leather. In the mouth there were dark fruits, it was earthy and the blackberries really stood out. The color in the glass was a deep, dark red that barely let any light through.

I would definitely suggest decanting this bottle if you are going to drink it now. The flavors were wound quite tight to begin with and I think my evaluation of it with dinner suffered. About an hour after dinner though, this was a smooth wine with a long finish. If I had let it sit before dinner I think the flavors would have complimented the bbq well, but as it was, the flavors were just not showing well when we drank it with dinner. I would also suggest hanging onto this one for another 2+ years, I think it will be great in a couple years.

I attempted to serve the 2004 Roshambo Syrah from the Frank Johnson Vineyard with our dinner. It didn't work. The alcohol and heat on this wine when I poured it just wouldn't go away. It took well over an hour sitting in our glasses before the alcohol scent disappeared and I could actually attempt to drink this.

The wine was 15.5% alcohol by volume, had a cork closure and came in a wine club shipment, yet another one without a price list.

Eventually on the nose I found raspberries and cloves, plus a bit of earth and oak. I was trying to serve this with pasta, fresh tomato sauce and fresh grated parmasean, but that didn't work out, so we drank it by itself after (long after) dinner. Perhaps food would have helped this wine out, but to be honest, I'm not so sure. In the mouth there really weren't any flavors. It was very muted and all I can say is that the wine was bitter, astringent and thin. It really didn't do much for me. I can't find this online, but I really hope we it didn't cost too much.

Ah, the benefits of signing up for WineQ, I can choose the wines I want when I want them. And I hopefully won't end up with wines like this one that don't do much for me, since I can read other user's reviews before I queue up anything! (I have convinced Matt that we will be signing up when we get back from our upcoming CA trip! Woohoo!)

For this WBW, Tim of Winecast is our host and he requested that we choose a New World Syrah (or Shiraz, same thing!) to review this week. So that leaves a lot of the world to choose from...Australia, North American, South America, etc. My choice was made easy by two factors. One, I have a ton of California Syrahs hanging around and two, I'm trying to limit my purchases of wine. Thus, a California Syrah for me!

The wine I chose was a 2004 Fritz Alexander Valley Syrah. This came in our last shipment from Fritz and cost us around $21. It is 14.2% alcohol by volume and had a real cork closure.

On the nose I got roasted meat and tons of dark fruit, plus an earthy quality and a hint of violets. In the mouth it transformed to pepper and spice with cherries and a leather taste.

I believe that there is at least one other bottle of this Syrah in our collection. I will leave it on the shelf as I think this has great potential to age for several years. There were enough dry tannins in the mouth to hold this one together and I really believe the dark blackberries will come out more, along with the violet which appeared after several hours in my glass (I usually end up drinking about a glass and a half out of a bottle since I like to watch it develop and by the time I get ready for my second glass there isn't much left in the bottle!). The berries really made their appearance as my glass sat out. If you are going to drink it now, I would suggest decanting or at least letting your glass sit out for an hour or so.

And it's soon, so get cracking on this assignment! Though I think it will be much easier this month to find a wine that fits!

WBW will be hosted by Tim of Wine Cast this month. You can find all the details over on Wine Cast in this post. The date is February 7th. That's soon! Our assignment is to drink and review a bottle of New World Syrah/Shiraz....so really, from anywhere in the United States, Australia, South America, etc......there are definetly a lot of bottles to choose from. But still, only about 2 weeks to get on this one. Same deal as always, drink your wine and send your review to Tim on February 7th.

I'm pretty sure we have a few (cough, cough, I have a very loose definition of "a few") bottles of Syrah hanging around from our trip. In fact, we drank a fabulous one from Quivira just the other night. It was the star of the wines of our dinner party and I'll be happy to try one of our other Syrahs for this WBW. Thanks to Tim for hosting!

We hosted a dinner party on Friday night for several of Matt's coworkers. Since it was my day off, I got to spend the day prepping food and picking out wine to serve. A total of 5 bottles of wine fell here on Friday, 2 whites, 2 reds and a dessert wine. With them I served a platter of assorted cheese and crackers, bruschetta, homemade pizza (1 pepperoni, 1 ham and pineapple) and chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce and fresh whipped cream.

The first wine served was a 2005 Fritz Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc, served with the assorted cheese and crackers. I'm almost always a fan of a crisp sauvignon blanc with cheese, especially when I'm serving creamy, tongue coating cheese, and this was no exception. We picked this bottle up at Fritz for $16.20 this summer, real cork closure and 13.6% alcohol by volume. A great match! Crisp, tart and acidic on the finish. Fairly citrusy, with lemons and grapefruits on the nose and the mouth. A nice long acidic finish. I'm glad we have a few more of these hanging around.

Second was a bottle of Quivira 2004 Syrah. I don't remember if this came in a club shipment o if we bought it at Quivira, but it was $28.00, had a real cork closure and is 14.4% alcohol by volume. This bottle was a big hit with all of our guests and was served with the pepperoni pizza. A deep inky purple, it was a beautiful glass of wine. I decanted it for nearly an hour before serving, which was definetly a good call. There was vanilla and spice on the nose, and also a distinct scent of bacon. In the mouth there were blackberries and currants. It had a big mouth feel and was smooth, but the alcohol was there, so decant!

Third was a bottle of Ferrari Carano 2003 Zinfandel. At 14.8% alcohol by volume, this was a big wine. It had a real cork closure and ran us $21.60. This one is done, it didn't need to be decanted at all, if you have it drink it now. We have one other bottle and I will serve it asap. Raisins and black currants on the nose, with blackberries in the mouth. It had a very nice finish and I didn't even notice the big alcohol. This was not the typical big zinfandel, it was more reserved and not too fruit forward, but an excellent balanced bottle. I served this with the ham and pineapple pizza. Drink up now!

Forth was a bottle of Trentadue Chocolate Amore Red Dessert Wine. Now, if you want to talk about big alcohol levels, here it is! This one sits at 18.5% alcohol by volume, had a real cork closure and I don't remember what it cost. It's a very tasty and well done dessert wine, though the chocolate is flavor added. Under the chocolate, there were layers of red raspberry. It was fairly thick, but this is probably Matt's favorite dessert wine ever. I served it with chocolate mousse.

Finally, a bottle of 2005 De La Montanya Fume Blanc. 14.6% alcohol by volume, a real cork closure and cost us $16 at the vineyard. This was floral and aromatic on the nose. In the mouth there was green apple. A crisp wine with a good structure and a decent finish. I thought the flavors in this bottle were very well done and it was definitely a good value. I think we have 2 more of these hanging around.

Phew, that was a long one, but an excellent party, with excellent food if I do say so myself and delicious wine!

We found Quivira while we were out driving on our honeymoon. I was driving since I could get a better rate on the rental car and Matt was navigating. He insisted that we were driving to nowhere, there were no vineyards on that far out on the road we were on. I persisted and we came upon Quivira. (I love being right.) It was a slow day at the vineyard, on what I believe was a Wednesday. We had plenty of time to chat with the tasting room server and learn about Quivira's wines and history. We enjoyed the wines so much that we signed up for the club and have been very pleased with the wines we've received.

Last night we grabbed a glass of the 2003 Syrah before heading out to dinner. Again, I really wish I remembered to decant more often. I really think this wine would have benefitted from decanting for a bit. On that first glass, the flavors were really tight and difficult for me to pick out, but I got a strong sense of roasted meat and pepper. After dinner we had the second glass and the wine had aired (albeit in the bottle) for the hour or so that we were gone. This is a very earthy wine. A little bit of oak and big earthy flavors. I got a bit of dark fruit, plums, black cherries, currants, as the wine opened up some more.